


Cultural Differences

by MooncatEclipse (Wolfgrowl)



Series: Wondrous Tails Bingo Event [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfgrowl/pseuds/MooncatEclipse
Summary: The night after the defeat of Titania Nijoh'ir chats with a ghost about food, the past, and their differences.
Relationships: Ardbert & Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: Wondrous Tails Bingo Event [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670677
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Cultural Differences

**Author's Note:**

> We can do two prompts and so this is for the prompts: Childhood Discussion and Cooking Together

Nijoh’ir hummed to himself as he moved about the kitchen, his tail swished happily as he sliced the veggies, his eyes drifted to the basket of sandwiches he’d moved to the side, before focusing again on the meat he’d had Feo Ul- Titania he reminded himself – fetch from his brother, Toje apparently mildly confused but happy to provide ingredients.

“So, what are you making?” Ardbert asked, the ghost peered around Nijoh’ir at the meal he was making.

“Kabobs! My moms used to make them,” Nijoh’ir set the now sliced veggies to the side to grab the dodo meat, Toje was a truly wonderful older brother to let Nijoh’ir have some that had been kept in a box with an ice crystal, marinating for half a day. “I had a craving earlier and had Feo Ul ask Toje to prep the dodo meat for me.”

“Toje?” Ardbert asked, standing awkwardly to the side.

“My older brother, he works as my retainer.” Nijoh’ir fished a piece of meat out of the sauce to skewer it, “he knows the same recipe I do so it’ll be kind of like being home.”

There was an awkward pause, Nijoh’ir’s fingers slowing while Ardbert looked down.

“Sorry,” both warriors said at the same time before turning to stare at each other in confusion.

“I- what are you sorry for?” Ardbert gestured to the window, though outside it was night, “this whole mess is my fault. Hardly seems fair you got dragged into it, which while partially my fault, I didn’t bring you here.”

“Just tried to kill me.”

“I am sorry about that.”

Nijoh’ir huffed and pulled the pile of vegetables closer to him, “I forgive you.” Ardbert looked up as he continued, “forgave you a long time ago. For the trying to kill me thing. As for this…” Nijoh’ir looked up from the skewer and out the window, his ears flattened in disgust. “Hydaelyn said she’d fix this. That was the whole point I thought. But no, you died for nothing, Minfillia died for nothing, and it still becomes my problem.” He glanced over, “that’s not your fault by the way, I’m furious at Hydaelyn. And I’m sorry that you lost everything.”

Ardbert reached for one of the skewers, watching sadly as his hand went through it, “but it’s my fault this happened in the first place. If we’d been smarter, more cautious you wouldn’t be here now.”

Nijoh’ir shrugged his shoulders, “The,” he raised his hand to do air quotes, “ _Exarch_ was the one who brought me here.”

Ardbert tilted his head slightly, “you have some history with him?”

“I never knew anyone named _The Exarch_ ,” Nijoh’ir replied, carefully skewering a veggie slice, “and The Exarch claims he has no idea who G’raha Tia is and rapidly changed the subject, so I guess no, I have no history with him.”

“That’s a mystel name from your world isn’t it?”

“Miqo’te,” Nijoh’ir looked up now with a playful grin, “I’m a Miqo’te.”

“You’re a Mystel.”

“Look you can be a Hume or whatever you like, but I am a Miqo’te.” He grabbed another skewer, setting the finished one on a plate to the side. “How many of these do I have?”

“Renda-Rae said your names were weird. And you have 7 more. Are you actually going to eat 9 kabobs?”

“Not in one sitting!” Nijoh’ir grinned and wiggled his ears with amusement, “I’m not that homesick. But they make good travel food.” He began the process of skewering food again, “and she’s one to talk. Our names make sense. They have meaning.”

“Okay so what does G’raha Tia mean then?” Ardbert asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“It’s a Seeker of the Sun name. Means he’s from the G tribe and that he doesn’t fuck.”

Nijoh’ir struggled not to laugh as Ardbert processed that. “It means what?”

“You heard me.” Nijoh’ir was loosing this battle as Ardbert looked at him, appalled.

“It does not.”

Nijoh’ir burst out laughing.

“You’re an arsehole,” Ardbert informed him, but the Warrior of Darkness was smiling, the closest to laughing Nijoh’ir had ever seen him.

Once Nijoh’ir had recovered he grinned widely at Ardbert, the Warrior’s eyes widening in shock as he looked at him, “I mean it.”

“Be serious.”

“I am!” Nijoh’ir fought another round of giggles, “Seekers live in tribes. The males are either Tias or Nuhns. If you’re a Nuhn you’re the breeding male. Otherwise you’re a Tia.”

“You’re saying the Exarch doesn’t fuck.”

“What the Exarch does is his business.” Nijoh’ir pointed at Ardbert before picking the skewer back up, “and I don’t know what the rules actually are about Tias and if they’re allowed to date and such. It might vary by Tribe.”

“So, you weren’t completely serious,” Ardbert’s mouth twitched as he shook his head, “but that is… truly odd my friend. However, what is this about Seekers? Renda-Rae explained it but she didn’t fully understand herself and…” Ardbert trailed off, “it was a long time ago.”

“There’s two types of Miqo’te. Seekers of the Sun, and Keepers of the Moon. Seekers of the Sun live in the desert, usually, in tribes like I said. Keepers live in the forest in family groups. Seekers have slit pupils, shorter fangs, smaller ears. Keepers have round pupils, long tails and fangs, and larger ears.”

Ardbert leaned forward into Nijoh’ir’s space, the Miqo’te playfully pulled his head back, ears flattened, before he relaxed.

“So, you’re a Seeker of the Sun then?” Ardbert asked, still watching his eyes, Nijoh’ir noted how blue his eyes were, almost the exact shade as Haurchefant’s if not the same. The thought made Nijoh’ir jerk back as though burned, Ardbert stared at him, his eyes pierced him the way Haurchefant’s used to, like he looked past the Warrior of Light to see Nijoh’ir, with concern and compassion.

“Are you okay?”

“You- you just reminded me of someone.” Nijoh’ir shook himself and stared at the table for a moment to catch his breath, “uh… what did you say?”

Ardbert’s gaze lingered on him a moment longer before he repeated himself, “I said that you were a Seeker of the Sun then.” He looked confused, “but your name…”

Nijoh’ir grimaced slightly, “I’m not the best example, I was born a Seeker of the Sun but my parents… died and I got taken in by a Keeper of the Moon family.” He set a skewer to the side and started the next one, “So I grew up as a Keeper and I see myself as one. That’s why my name is Nijoh’ir Jesyho. My mother was Nijoh Jesyho, and I’m the sixth son, so Ir.”

“What?”

Nijoh’ir set his skewer down, it was easier to talk about this, he’d explained it countless times. “Keepers inherit our mother’s last name. So, me and all my siblings have the last name Jesyho. The girls all get unique names while all the boys get our mother’s name just with a suffix for which son we are. So Nijoh’a, Nijoh’to, Nijoh’li, Nijoh’sae, Nijoh’ra and Nijoh’ir.”

“But your brother was named Toje?” Ardbert looked so baffled that Nijoh’ir had to laugh.

“Nijoh’to Jesyho. To Jesyho. To Je. Toje.”

“Yeah I got that on the second one.”

Nijoh’ir stuck his tongue out at him and started his skewer again, “but names have meaning.”

“You assume Mystel names don’t.”

Nijoh’ir considered that a moment before he looked up, “there’s not enough a pattern, plus Lue-Reeq would’ve said something.”

“The idiot rich kid?”

“Hey, that’s my idiot rich kid best friend you’re talking about.” Nijoh’ir stabbed a piece of meat with the skewer and grinned, shaking his head.

“He’s a good kid, I’m sorry his parents are shit.”

Ardbert watched Nijoh’ir continue to make the kabobs before asking, “so, you mentioned your mom taught you do this?”

“My moms, I had three. They lived together and raised all of their kids together, twelve knows they needed all the help they could get.” Nijoh’ir smiled fondly, he looked over at Ardbert, “what, didn’t hear enough about my mounts?”

Ardbert shrugged his shoulders, “if you’d rather talk about them, you got distracted because you got hungry remember?”

“Oh yeah. I told you about Sunflight and Fenrir, right?”

“Yeah.”

There’s more,” Nijoh’ir was working quicker now, as though the reminder about his hunger had made him eager to finish, “but yeah, I grew up in the woods, with my siblings, learning to hunt and track, and how to survive.”

Ardbert’s eyes widened and Nijoh’ir smothered a laugh, “not like, they abandoned us in the woods, but we’d be on our own someday! We needed to know how to take care of ourselves. And part of that was learning how to cook.” He finished that skewer and stopped for a moment, “it was fun, cooking as a family, cleaning the catches and working together.” He looked over at Ardbert sadly, “I’d offer you some but…”

“I’m sure it tastes great,” the ghost replied, his eyes unfocused, staring through Nijoh’ir as though he was the ghost, and would it truly be wrong to say Nijoh’ir was haunting him just as much.

Nijoh’ir’s ears flattened slightly, but he focused again, “yeah, the meat, gods hunting with my siblings, let me tell you about this time Ty, Ra and I went out to get some antelopes, it was a time.”

Ardbert’s smile was less strained as he listened, Nijoh’ir happy to fill the silence with stories as he continued the comforting ritual, for a brief moment, neither more than a pair of friends swapping stories of childhood.

**Author's Note:**

> Ardbert is my Shadowbringers husband and you all are sleeping on him. Also writing this I became made painfully aware that Ardbert does actually have eyes almost the exact same shade of blue as Haurchefant.


End file.
